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Once written off by teacher is now a Nobel
prize winner
Tuesday October 09, 2012 07:11:03 PM,
IANS
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Related Article |
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Two scientists share 2012 Nobel Prize in Medicine
The 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine went jointly to
John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka "for the discovery that mature
cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent", reported Xinhua
citing an institute statement.
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London: A British
researcher who won the 2012 Nobel Prize for Medicine was once
dismissed by his school teacher about his ambition to become a
scientist as "quite ridiculous", the Guardian reported Tuesday.
Sir John Gurdon, 79, of Cambridge University, Monday shared the
prize in physiology or medicine - and 744,000-pound cash - with
Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka, 50.
Their ground-breaking work has given scientists fresh insights
into how cells and organisms develop.
The research may pave the way for radical advances in medicine
that allow damaged or diseased tissues to be regenerated in the
lab, or even inside patients' bodies.
According to his Eton schoolmaster, Gurdon, at an age of 15, did
not stand out as a potential scientist.
Writing in 2006, Gurdon quoted a school report as saying: "I
believe Gurdon has ideas about becoming a scientist; on his
present showing this is quite ridiculous.
"If he can't learn simple biological facts, he would have no
chance of doing the work of a specialist, and it would be a sheer
waste of time, both on his part and of those who would have to
teach him."
His fellow researcher Yamanaka holds academic posts at Kyoto and
San Francisco Universities.
Speaking to reporters in London, Gurdon said it was "very
gratifying" to be recognised for what has been his life's work.
Prior to the duo's research, scientists believed adult cells were
committed irreversibly to their specialist role, for example, as
skin, brain or beating heart cells.
Gurdon showed that essentially all cells contained the same genes,
and so held all the information needed to make any tissue.
Building on Gurdon's work, Yamanaka developed a chemical cocktail
to reprogramme adult cells into more youthful states, from which
they could grow into many other tissue types.
In a statement, the Nobel Assembly at Stockholm's Karolinska
Institute in Sweden, said the scientists had "revolutionised our
understanding of how cells and organisms develop".
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